1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to clips for holding a bundle of paper currency.
2. Description of Prior Art
Products for carrying personal money include wallets, purses, bags, and clips. These are often designed to hold paper currency in an organized folded condition, with quick access. It addition, they may hold credit cards, business cards, and sometimes coins. Some people prefer money clips for holding a small amount of paper money in a clothes pocket, since other money holders, including wallets, bulge the pocket. A money clip should clamp the bills tightly enough to hold them securely, yet open easily for insertion and removal of the bills.
Prior money clips are designed using plain spring clamps, torsion springs, or other springs and clamps. These include simple spring clips as exemplified in U.S. design Pat. No. 283,844 (Sand et al., 1986). However, such simple clips must be pried open with the fingers using both hands, and held open awkwardly for insertion of bills, requiring dexterity. They are not highly secure, since the clamping force must be light in order to make opening practical.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,249,437 (Cole Jr., 1993) has a special locking arm 26 and a pressure arm 36 that provides a stable closed pressure against a bundle of bills. This should provide improved holding power and convenience of operation over simple spring clips. However, it has a pressure foot 36 that slides across the bills as it clamps them, which may cause damage to the bills or to a credit card clamped within the bills. Also, this device is completely custom made, requiring special tooling for manufacture.
Other prior money clips have disadvantages similar to one or both of the above two examples. Most of them require the fingers of two hands to open the jaws; many of them cannot provide strong clamping force because they would be too hard to open; most of them do not have a soft, attractive cover with a large front and back surface for logos or other decoration, and most of them require custom clamping hardware. All of these disadvantages are solved in the present invention